News

The Cabinet has approved an amendment to the energy law, setting a framework for the liberalization of the gas and electricity markets. The first stage of liberalization of the gas market is to come in January next year and should concern large buyers. The gas market should be fully liberalized by the end of 2006. The electricity market has already gone through three stages of liberalization, with full liberalization also scheduled for 2006. The law aims at raising competition on the energy market and should strengthen the position of consumers by enabling them to pick a supplier.

The Prague High Court has confirmed an eight year sentence for former foreign ministry official Karel Srba, found guilty of plotting to murder a journalist. Mr Srba was found guilty of planning to kill Sabina Slonkova, a top investigative reporter for the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes. The man hired to do the murder went to the police before the plan could be carried out.

The three Czech journalists who have been kidnapped by rebel Iraqi insurgents are alive and well and could be released as early as Wednesday, the Iraqi Culture Minister Mufid Jazairi said on Tuesday. Czech TV reporter Michal Kubal, his cameraman Petr Klima, and Czech Radio correspondent Vit Pohanka, have been missing since Sunday. Both Mr Kubal and Mr Klima where scheduled to catch a flight home from Jordan but never arrived in Prague. An Iraqi taxi driver has reported that he was on route to Amman, Jordan, with three Czech journalists when his vehicle was stopped by rebels west of the town of Falluja, and the three passengers were taken hostage.

Following a National Security Council meeting, Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said that the Czech Foreign Ministry, Czech Embassy in Baghdad, as well as Mr Jazairi, who has personal ties with the Czech Republic, have been in constant contact with Iraqi officials. Several teams have also been investigating at the site where the abduction is believed to have taken place. A Czech military police force specially trained for hostage situations is waiting for orders to leave for Iraq. The Czech government is scheduled to discuss further security measures during its session on Wednesday.

The Czech Police launched an extensive road safety campaign on Tuesday, in an effort to keep the number of accidents caused by drink driving or the bad technical state of vehicles at a minimum. For the rest of the week, several thousand police officers will monitor drivers and their cars in the nationwide operation named Krystof 004. Statistics show that the number of deaths from road accidents has decreased since 2003. Czech police spokeswoman Blanka Kosinova says, it is regular operations such as Krystof, or Christopher (named after the patron saint of travellers) that help to keep these figures low. Krystof 004 was preceded by operation X four weeks ago, when 54 drivers under the influence of alcohol and 12,555 driving offences were recorded.